23small things

small companions

sculpture | inuit talismen by gerald forseth

nomads amulets bone hands pockets

For three decades these carved bone and sinew figures (2 1/2” tall) are my companions while I watch TV. They were made by Inuit craftsman in the Arctic sometime in the 1980s and collected, then sold, by Marmie Hess of Calgary, the noted authority on art and artefacts from northern Canada. They are talismen, associated with luck and safety from harm, pocket- sized. It appears that they arrange themselves in a semi- circle and often seem to react the same way I do, laughing, chortling, enquiring, panning or nodding in agreement with the dialogue of the programme we are watching. v

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On Site review 23

Small Things

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